None of that mattered when Sinn was on your side.
Maxine barreled through the fencing Ms. Sinn rendered completely unresponsive. We tore across the gravel as the drone guns tracked our movement but never fired a shot. The gleaming mechanized dogs followed for a few tense seconds, snapping at the wheels with their syringe-equipped fangs. But the metallic mutts ate the ground in clouds of dust and flailing limbs when Ms. Sinn worked her digital magic.
She buzzed in over the line. “Your target goes by the name Lord Troll. I just sent his network a present that should bypass his security system and get you inside.”
Maxine squealed to a halt in front of a ramshackle depot in the middle of the scattered heaps of junk. I leaped out and gestured to the door. It ripped off its hinges when Benny rammed it with his shoulder. Loud cursing greeted us as I leaped in and fanned the cramped room over with the Mean Ol’ Broad. I lowered it when I saw the type of skel we were dealing with.
He had the type of scrawny muscularity developed by a regimen of energy drinks and pushups. Biomechanical tattoos covered his bare arms, most of his back and part of his bare chest. Visor goggles covered his eyes, blinking rapidly with alternating fluorescents. His narrow head was topped by a two-toned mohawk fashioned like feathers.
Multiple holographic consoles surrounded him, creating the illusion of being encircled by glimmering light and coding. The rest of the room was filled with trash and junk, as if Lord Troll only paused long enough to consume something and let it drop to the floor.
“Bugger me!” He pounded the static-filled console in front of him with gloved fists. “I just got this bodgy piece of bull dust back up and it goes cactus again? Who the bloody hell is this slager?”
“I’d worry less about that and more about your current situation, Ace.” I pointed the Mean Ol’ Broad his direction. “Unless you like lead poisoning, that is.”
“Get stuffed, ya wanker.” His attention never wavered from the screen in front of him as his fingers flew across the keyboard impossibly fast. “I don’t give a rat’s arse who the hell you are. But you’re a few roos loose in the top paddock if you think you can barge in here making threats. You got no idea who you’re screwing with, do you?”
I nodded at Benny.
His oversized hand wrapped around the back of Lord Troll’s neck. In less than a second Troll’s heavy combat boots dangled above the floor while he gagged and struggled to break Benny’s iron grip.
I lit a gasper and took a step closer. “I think you got it the wrong way, cyber boy. You’re the one with no idea of who you’re screwing with. My name’s Mick Trubble. You and your crew have been looking for me.”
His expression changed from defiant to uneasy in the blink of an eye. I nodded to Benny, who let Lord Troll drop into the refuse of the heavily littered floor. He sat up and massaged his neck while looking at me as though I was an oversized cockroach. I tried not to wince at the numerous piercings on his face, including black spikes across his forehead and the bridge of his nose.
He removed the cybernetic eye gear and squinted as if not used to outside light. “You’re the bugger Natalie’s so obsessed with. I told that stupid cunt that we should’ve toe-tagged you days ago. She swears getting your memory back is more valuable than towing in your stiff.”
“Mighty gracious of her.”
“Pig’s arse. Gracious ain’t a word you use with Natalie. You’re zotzed, you know that? This place is tricked out to alarm the crew if any dill crashes without authorization. Chopper squad’s on the way. Feel me?”
I aimed and pulled the trigger. The Broad boomed overly loud in the small room.
Lord Troll screamed and clutched his ruined hand. “You bloody bastard! What the hell did you do that for?” He gritted his silver-plated teeth and rocked back and forth with his knees clamped over the bloody hand.
I gestured with the Mean Ol’ Broad. “Making sure you feel me. Figure you won’t be as quick on the digital draw with a handicap. Don’t think I didn’t see your fingers twitching toward that alarm you got tricked up under your chair. So maybe you’re beginning to understand your predicament, Ace. I’m not here to gab about the weather. I’m commandeering your command post here. And your friends aren’t gonna do jack about it because they don’t know what’s going on.”
Lord Troll shuddered as if trying to fight his body going into shock. Which made the twisted grin on his face all the more puzzling.
“I wouldn’t bet on that, mate.”
The Datacom in my ear buzzed as Ms. Sinn broke in. “I’m registering movement coming your way, Mick. Something big.”
Chapter 17: Ben the Bear
I snuck a peek around the damaged door frame. A large figure tromped toward our location, covered head to toe in heavy combat armor. His right arm was encased in an oversized turret gun that whirred when he pointed it our direction. The ammo belt fed from a massive pack on his sturdy back. A helmet scope covering his left eye projected a targeting laser that shimmered inside the depot.
Sinn buzzed over the Datacom. “Looks like Lord Troll had a watchdog. Codename: Buckshot. Standard Secret Service cyborg combat unit.”
“I thought you took out everything jacked into the network, Ms. Sinn. Can’t you take this lug out with your magical hacking powers?”
“These units run off their own personal area networks for that very reason. It will take me a few minutes to link to his system and shut him down.”
I kept my eyes on the behemoth outside. “I don’t think I have a few minutes.”
Buckshot tilted his head. “LT, you all right in there?”
“I’m good, Buckster,” Lord Troll said. “Just sorting it out with some uninvited guests. Don’t worry about me — feel free to smoke these bloody ratbags.”
“Roger that.”
My eyes widened as Buckshot’s turret arm lifted. “Benny, get down!”
I dropped to the floor as the burst of heavy fire tore the depot to shreds. The sound of the close-range fire and the subsequent bullets razing computer equipment and consoles was nearly deafening. Sparks showered, and the stench of burning electronics stung my nostrils as I desperately hugged the splintery woodgrain and prayed I wouldn’t resemble a slice of Swiss cheese after it was over. I glanced over and saw Lord Troll wriggle into a recess in the floor. He flipped me the bird as he disappeared from sight. A panel slid shut, cutting off my view.
I tapped my holoband. “Maxine, I need some interference now!”
I heard the discharge as the chaff missiles were fired from Maxine’s concealed compartments. A second later the barrage ended and the cursing began.
“Benny?”
“I think I’m ok, Mick.” He lay prone, gasping for breath in the corner a few feet away. The volley of slugs surprisingly missed his oversized frame.
“All right, then — grab some cover. This lug won’t be stalled for long.”
I leaped to my feet. The entire roof and most of the walls of the depot no longer existed. I hurdled the ruined lower section of the remaining wall and sprinted toward Maxine. Buckshot couldn’t do anything about it at the moment because he was too busy yelping and swatting at the cloud of electronic wasps that buzzed around him.
I’d used the Wasp’s Nest in the past with success, so I installed Maxine’s defense system with the same. The expelled explosive unleashed a cloud of tiny machines fashioned after stinging insects. Not only did they release electromagnetic pulses that disrupted nearly everything digital or electric, they also used their tiny stingers to torture their target’s physiology as well. Buckshot’s targeting and weapons systems were compromised, and he wasn’t having a great time with the stinging either. The only problem was the discharge didn’t last long.